Receipt insurance systems and methods

ABSTRACT

Receipt insurance systems and methods provide protection to consumers against losses which may result from failure to possess a physical receipt or proof of purchase for retail purchase transactions. In one embodiment, a third party receipt insurer insures or guarantees consumers or purchasers of benefits associated with having possession of a receipt or other proof of purchase for a retail purchase without the need for possession of a physical or paper receipt. A receipt insurance agreement between a receipt insurance provider and a consumer protects the consumer against a loss of consumer rights or personal property insurance rights resulting from a lost receipt by electronically storing for retrieval, if necessary, an electronic record of all of the receipt information.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/822,495, filed Jun. 24, 2010 which claims priority to U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 61/220,309, filed on Jun. 25, 2009,which applications are fully incorporated herein.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is in the general field of commercial salestransactions and insurance, and more particularly in the field of salestransaction records and management, verification and insurance.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Paper receipts have long served as the sole record of salestransactions, particularly consumer sales transactions, and the solebearer paper for proof of purchase and claim of rights. primarilyownership rights, associated with the purchase. A receipt may containsuch information as identification of items purchased, quantity of itemspurchased, date and time of purchase, location of purchase, totaltransaction amount including taxes, discounts and other adjustments andpayment method, and other information in coded or other form whichassists the seller in identifying each transaction uniquely. A receiptmay also contain a message from the retailer, warranty or returndetails, special offers, advertisements or coupons. Typically, forin-store purchases/sales, a receipt is generated from the retail pointof sale system on paper register tape and presented to the buyer at thecompletion of the transaction. For online purchases, a receipt may beelectronically generated at the end of the transaction or immediatelye-mailed to the buyer so the buyer can print the receipt informationfrom his/her home computer, or a paper receipt and/or packing slip maybe contained in the package when the merchandise is delivered to thebuyer. In most cases, a paper receipt or copy thereof is generated. Evenwhen an electronic receipt is generated, the buyer must print a copy ofthe receipt in order to obtain any rights associated with thetransaction, such as a return or warranty claim, or insurance claims forloss or destruction of an item of personal property.

A receipt is also a legal document which serves as evidence of atransaction between a seller and a buyer, and proof of ownership as aresult of purchase. Possession of a receipt entitles the bearer tocertain rights. Retailers may require consumers, as part of the termsand conditions of a sale, to present an original receipt document asproof of purchase of an item in order for the consumer to return orexchange the item. Similarly, a manufacturer of a product may requirepresentation of an original receipt document as a pre-condition to anyclaim made for warranty replacement or repair of an item. The submissionof an original receipt may also be required by, among others, employersfor reimbursement of business-related purchases; personal propertyinsurers for claims of lost, damaged or stolen property, insuranceproviders for reimbursement of certain health-related expenses; thefederal government for income tax records, and U.S. courts of law forlegal related matters as a business document under the Federal Rules ofEvidence.

Given the legal and transactional importance of possession andsafe-keeping of sales receipts, significant attention and effort must bedevoted to maintaining possession, control, organization and protectionof receipts in physical form, i.e. paper receipts. The time periodbetween when a purchase is made and when a receipt is required can beseveral years for returns and warranty claims, and for the entire periodof ownership for personal property loss claims. Even if a consumermanages to retain the receipt, over time the receipt may becomeillegible or otherwise damaged to the point where it becomes void and isno longer functional as a legal document. Some receipt printingtechnology such as thermal printing does not produce print which remainslegible over an extended period of time. Loss of a receipt results inloss of the consumer's rights, and can reflect negatively on the selleror retailer that refuses to honor returns or warranty claims solely dueto the absence of a receipt.

Paper receipt generation for every retail transaction is also anenormous burden for retailers and on the environment. In addition to theequipment and labor required to continuously generate millions of paperreceipts, the physical paper requirements for receipts just in the U.S.is estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands of tons, sourced fromthe annual destruction of thousands of trees.

Systems for generating and storing receipt data electronically, i.e.,electronic receipts, are known. They involve interfacing with retailerpoint-of-purchase (POP) systems to acquire receipt information and storeit either on-site or off-site or by a third-party provider. For example,published U.S. patent application US2009/0271322 A1 discloses a systemand method for auto-generating an electronic receipt from apoint-of-sale (POS) with a credit card terminal and/or electronic cashregister, and which de-activates normal receipt printing functionality,captures electronic receipt information and transmits it to a membershipor subscriber based Internet website where consumers may view and managetheir receipt information. The system also includes a membership orprovider based Internet website for merchants to view and manageinformation related to previous customers, from which merchants maydistribute coupons or advertisements to participating consumers.

Published U.S. patent application US2009/0313132A1 discloses a receiptstore as a cloud computing service wherein electronic receipt data isassociated with customer information and sent to the cloud by theretailer. The customer information can be provided via a device such asa cell phone or other device containing an electronic record which isread at the point of sale. The receipt data can then be accessed by thecustomer by the device or other computing means.

Published U.S. patent application US2009/0216664A1 discloses the use ofa portable device for electronic payment with a base device of aretailer, and receiving and storing an electronic receipt.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,552,087 discloses an electronic transaction receiptsystem and method wherein electronic receipts are issued to buyers viathe Internet, and may include hyperlinks to related information such asproduct return procedures, product warranty information, rebates orrecall procedures.

Published U.S. patent application US2008/0313066 A1 discloses a methodand system for managing receipts wherein electronic copies of receiptsare generated and stored in a database under unique identification codesfor each purchaser/user for later access if needed. The applicationincludes disclosure of the seller generating electronic receipt datawhich is assigned a unique code and stored in a database, but does notaddress seller or retailer acceptance of electronic receipt records forpurposes of merchandise return, refund, exchange or warranty claims.

Published U.S. patent application US2008/002473A1 discloses a method ofretaining and accessing receipts in which digitized receipt data istransferred from the retailer point-of-sale to a receipt serviceprovider (RSP) which is accessible by consumers via a website by use ofa PIN code.

Published U.S. patent application US2007/0205274A1 discloses a methodand program for generating an electronic receipt of a sales transactionat appoint of purchase and transmitting the record in an electron formfor retrieval by the buyer. The receipt record may be transmitted to aportable memory storage device in possession of the buyer at the pointof purchase, or to a remote service provider or to an Internet addressaccessible by the buyer.

Published U.S. patent application US2007/0164106A1 discloses an onlinereceipt management system in which a centralized online electronicreceipt database is accessible to users via the Internet using apassword or e-mail address to access an individual account.

Published U.S. patent application US2007/0094088A1 discloses a systemand method of providing electronic receipts directly to a customerwherein biometric data and product specific identification informationis collected with each purchase and included with an electronic receiptgenerated for each purchase.

Published U.S. patent application US2007/0050258A1 discloses a receiptcard system that allows consumers to view stored transaction line-itemdetail using a web browser interface, and to download the informationinto personal financial management system.

Published U.S. patent application US2007/0045405A1 discloses a systemand method for issuing digital receipts for purchase transactionswherein electronic receipt data is transmitted, for example by e-mail,to the owner of a credit card which is used for the purchase.

Published U.S. patent application US2007/0005510A1 discloses a systemand method wherein receipt data in electronic form is made available toconsumers at the point-of-sale such as for example by use of USB devicein connection with an electronic cash register.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,069,240 discloses a system for image capture of receiptdata for expense reports, which analyzes images of receipts, convertsimages to text, extracts expense data and creates an expense report withthe receipt data.

Published U.S. patent application US2005/0060437A1 discloses anelectronic receipt management system which stores electronic receiptdata from multiple disparate retailers and associates receipt data witha unique identifier by vendor or transaction in a storage device, whichmay be a portable or personal digital storage device such as a personaldigital assistant, cell phone or handheld computer.

Published U.S. patent application US2004/0220964A1 discloses a methodand apparatus for management of electronic receipts on portable deviceswherein the consumer uses the portable device to conduct the transactionwith a base device such as an electronic cash register.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,543,683 discloses a system and method for providing aconsumer means to access a digital receipt generated from a purchasetransaction and stored in a storage device, and to access variousapplication, features or functions related to a stored digital receipt.

Published U.S. patent application US2002/-188559A1 discloses a digitalreceipt personal identification system in which digital receipts areuniquely coded so that a buyer can later access an electronic version ofsales receipt through a computing device by presenting the transactionidentifier.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,487,540 discloses a system and method for electronicreceipt transmission and management which include itemized purchasetransaction information and use wireless vendor devices and wirelesspurchase devices to transmit and receive electronic receipts at thepoint-of-sale, and wherein the wireless purchaser device also performsshort range and long range communications for purchase authorization tocomplete a purchase from a vendor.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,341,353 discloses a smart receipt electronic receiptsystem that provides intelligent receipts that electronically document atransaction and maintain a persistent connection between the seller andthe buyer, including hyperlinks in the smart receipt which enable thebuyer to access customer service and order status.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,739,512 discloses a system that stores or transmitsreceipt information digitally, over the Internet or to an e-mailaddress, and discloses embedding an e-mail address into a bank card suchas a credit card.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,324,952 discloses an insurance and transactionmonitoring method and system which uses a transaction monitoring programwhich records details of and communications concerning an insurancecontract for increased security and information accuracy.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,246,068 discloses a computerized system for combininginsurance company and credit card transactions wherein consumer use of acredit card generates rebates or rewards which may be used to offset thecost of an insurance policy or to make payments to a medical servicesaccount.

Although these patents and patent applications disclose various systemsand methods for creating and accessing electronic receipts, they do notaddress or remedy or cover consumer losses resulting from the loss ofreceipts, whether in paper or electronic form.

Published U.S. patent application US2009/0157437A1 discloses systems andmethods for providing insurance and non-insurance products whereininsurance coverage for loss or breakage of a purchased product isincluded in the sale of a service contract for the product.

Published U.S. patent application US2009/0182584A1 discloses methods forselling insurance using a rapid decision term, by which an insurer sellsa life insurance policy with a defined first term and at a first premiumwhich may be relatively high and limited underwriting, and which may bereduced if the insured provides additional information such as medicalinformation and such information indicates a reduced premium isappropriate.

Published U.S. patent application US2010/0114612A1 discloses systems andmethods for providing supplemental insurance for leased vehicles whereina supplemental insurance coverage decision is made by an insurer basedupon information received via computer from a leasing dealer or agent.The system is also configured to process claims for the supplementalinsurance coverage.

Although these patents and patent applications disclose various systemsand methods of implementing and transacting different types of insurancepolicies and business, they do not address insurance coverage forconsumers related to losses which could result from the absence or lossof a paper receipt or electronic receipt for the purchase of a product.The prior art does not provide any system or method for coverage ofconsumer losses or loss of rights with respect the ownership of aproduct or personal property which could result from the loss of a paperor electronic receipt.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure and related inventions provides receipt insurancesystems and methods by which consumers rights attendant to thepossession of a physical printed receipt for merchandise or service areinsured by a third party insurer, regardless of the existence orpossession of a physical printed receipt from a seller or retailer. Areceipt insurer functions as a third party insurer who protects theconsumer against any loss of rights with respect to a purchase which mayotherwise result from the absence of a printed paper receipt. Thereceipt insurance systems and methods of the disclosure and relatedinventions can be acquired per transaction, or in connection with apayment system such as a credit or debit card. The receipt insurancesystems and methods are configured for creating, storing and retrievingelectronic records of sales transactions which are verified, certifiedand accepted by sellers such as retailers as valid and authentic proofof purchase of an item and of all of the related sales transactioninformation. In preferred embodiments of the disclosed systems andmethods, paperless receipt records are provided as part of a receiptinsurance service wherein a purchaser is insured to have and retain allof the benefits attendant to the sales transaction, but without thephysical (paper) existence of or physical possession of a paper receipt.

In accordance with the disclosure and related inventions, a third partyprovider of receipt insurance, a receipt insurer, enters into agreementswith sellers such as retailers, and with consumers, under which theconsumer is insured against any losses or loss of rights which couldoccur as a result of not having a paper receipt for an item purchased bythe consumer from a seller, and under which the retailer agrees toaccept the receipt insurer's electronic record of an insured purchasetransaction. Once the receipt insurance agreements are in place, thereceipt insurer receives receipt data from a retailer, or from aretailer service provider such as merchant payment services or a creditcard issuer, for each insured transaction for which Receipt Insurance isprovided. The Receipt Insurance provider maintains a database of all ofthe receipt information for receipts which are insured, and is able toretrieve receipt information upon request of the consumer or retailerfor an authenticated or certified receipt in lieu of an original paperreceipt. Further, in accordance with the disclosed methods of theinvention, the Receipt Insurance service may be provided as part ofindividual retail consumer sales transactions in stores or online(e-commerce), as part of a payment services agreement such as debit orcredit cards issued by a financial institution, or on a per transactionbasis, regardless of the location or type of transaction.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure and relatedinventions, a method for providing receipt insurance from a receiptinsurer to purchasers of goods for financial protection against losseswhich could result from a purchaser's failure to possess an originalsales receipt received from a seller in connection with a purchase ofgoods or services, and by agreements with the purchasers and sellers ofgoods or services and implementation and operation of a receiptinsurance system by the receipt insurer, the method including the stepsof: the receipt insurer offering receipt insurance coverage to apurchaser in the form of an agreement presented to the purchaser underwhich the purchaser is provided assurance that a seller of goods willaccept an electronic record of a receipt from the receipt insurer asproof of purchase of goods specified by the electronic record of areceipt, and further that if a seller does not accept an electronicrecord of a receipt as proof of purchase of goods specified by theelectronic record of the receipt the receipt insurer will compensate thepurchaser for an amount of specified losses resulting from a seller'srefusal to accept an electronic record of a receipt from the receiptinsurer as proof of purchase of the goods specified by the electronicrecord of the receipt; the receipt insurer entering into agreements withsellers of goods by which the sellers agree to accept an electronicrecord of a receipt as proof of purchase of goods specified by theelectronic record of a receipt; the receipt insurer establishing andoperating a receipt insurance system by which receipt data forpurchasers who have accepted receipt insurance coverage is acquired fromsellers who have agreed to accept electronic records of receipts asproof of purchase of goods specified by electronic records of receipts,the receipt insurer storing electronic records of receipts in thereceipt insurance system; the receipt insurer receiving claims frompurchasers for electronic records of receipts and delivering electronicrecords of receipts to purchasers or sellers upon request, and thereceipt insurer paying any receipt insurance claims which are covered bythe receipt insurance agreements.

These and other concepts, features aspects and innovations of thedisclosure and related inventions are further described herein and withreference to the accompanying Figures where necessary.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the receipt insurance system and methodof the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart describing one embodiment of the receiptinsurance system and process of the present disclosure describing theflow of data between a retailer or vendor of goods or services and thereceipt insurance system;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of representative steps in the execution of oneembodiment of the receipt insurance system and method of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 4 is a representative screen display of an automated salestransaction machine which includes receipt insurance as a component of asales transaction;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of an alternate embodiment of a receipt insurancesystem and method of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a representative screen display of a internet website page fora purchase transaction which includes receipt insurance as a componentof the purchase transaction;

FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic view of a wireless digital device with adisplay;

FIG. 8 is a representative layout and view of an account statement whichcan be displayed as a page on a computer display, and

FIG. 9 is a diagram of a representative embodiment of areceipt-insured-credit-card system and method.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED AND ALTERNATE EMBODIMENTS

In accordance with the present disclosure, various embodiments ofsystems and methods for receipt insurance, consumers are insured againstloss of rights resulting from the loss of a physical paper receiptassociated with a sales transaction. The receipt insurance systems andmethods of the invention insure consumers against losses resulting fromthe absence of a paper receipt by agreements with sellers/retailers toobtain electronic transaction data, and to produce certified orotherwise verified electronic receipt records in lieu of paper receiptsif needed for such receipt benefits as returns, replacements or warrantyclaims or personal property insurance claims. The receipt insurer mayfurther provide consumers with insurance coverage against losses of anykind arising from the loss of a paper receipt.

As disclosed herein in the various alternate embodiments, in a receiptinsurance system and method a consumer, for example at the point of saleor in connection with a payment system, may choose to purchase orotherwise acquire insurance coverage from a receipt insurer to insureand protect all of the benefits of ownership of an item of merchandise(or performance of a service) without the need for the physicalexistence or preservation of a physical receipt. A third party receiptinsurer receives an electronic record of a sales transaction from theseller, such as a retailer, and stores it in a database as a uniquelyidentified sales transaction record or “electronic receipt” associatedwith an insured purchaser, buyer or consumer. The seller or retaileralso participates in or consents to the receipt insurance system andmethod, and cooperates with the necessary transfer of information fromeach transaction for operation of the system and method. The electronicrecord of the transaction or “electronic receipt” for a receipt-insuredsales transaction is transmitted to and saved within the receiptinsurance system, which includes a working combination of hardware,software and data communications devices which are configured andprogrammed for storage and retrieval of electronic receipt records aselectronic digital data. In certain embodiments, the receipt insurancesystem works in combination with retail Point of Sale (POS) and/orEnterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems to capture consumer salestransaction data so that retailers may provide receiptless transactionsto consumers in connection with the receipt insurance coverage.

In addition, the systems and methods disclosed herein may be implementedin various configurations and manners. The particular embodiments andimplementations disclosed herein are illustrative of the various aspectsof the disclosure and related inventions and best modes and do nototherwise limit the scope of the disclosure and inventions in any way.The described systems and methods may be embodied as a data processingand storage system, including devices for data processing, storage andretrieval as accomplished by computer hardware and software configuredand programmed to carry out the described functions and operations. Someembodiments of the invention may be in the form of a computer program ona computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program codeembodied in the storage medium. Any suitable computer-readable storagemedium may be utilized, e.g. hard disks, CD-ROM, optical storagedevices, magnetic or the like. Conventional data networking, applicationdevelopment and other functional aspects of the systems are notdescribed in detail herein. Connecting lines in the various diagrams andfigures are intended to represent exemplary system relationships orphysical connections which may be present in an information technologyimplementation of the system and in order to carry out the various stepsof the method.

The terms “retailer” and “seller” may be used interchangeably throughoutthis disclosure and generally refer to and mean the seller ormerchandise, products, goods or services and issuers of a receipt, inpaper or electronic form, to a buyer as a record of a sales transactionwith a buyer, and further includes retail store operators “retailers”and Internet websites which present merchandise, products, goods orservices for sale and are configured for selection, purchase, paymentand delivery of products to a buyer who accesses the website over theInternet. Similarly, the terms “customer”, “consumer”, “buyer” and“user” are also used interchangeably herein and refer to generally andmean and include individuals, persons, entities or organizations thatpay money in exchange for merchandise, products, goods or services. Theterms “insurance” and “receipt insurance” and “Receipt Insurance” meanand include any business or contractual agreement (also referred toherein as a “policy”, “coverage” or “agreement”) whereby a consumer isprovided with some assurance, coverage, guarantee or promise whichaddresses any disadvantages to the consumer which might arise as aresult of not having in his or her possession either a physical (e.g.paper) receipt or an electronic record of a receipt for a purchasetransaction. Also, as used herein the term “receipt insurance” does notrequire there to be an actual insurance policy or agreement between aconsumer and an insurer, payment systems provider or other party, andmay consist simply of a term or condition of a sales transaction, eitherwith or between a consumer, a retailer or merchant, a payment systemsprovider, and/or third party such as a guarantor. The terms “insurance”and “assurance” are synonymous herein. The terms “seller”, “retailer”and “vendor” are used synonymously herein. The terms “agreement” and“policy” are used synonymously herein.

The receipt insurance systems and methods disclosed herein provideconsumers with a new and valuable insurance product. Consumers areinsured, by a third party insurer, that they will receive all of thebenefits that exist with physical possession of a paper receipt, withoutthe continuous burden of maintaining physical custody of the receipt.Product returns, exchanges, repair, replacement and other purchase andwarranty or insurance coverage benefits are insured by the receiptinsurance coverage which is provided to the consumer by the receiptinsurer. The receipt insurance agreements eliminate the need for thereceipt insured buyer to physically possess either an original paperreceipt or an electronic record of a receipt. Furthermore, a receiptinsurance policy or agreement may protect a consumer against any and alllosses resulting from failure to possess a physical paper receipt, evenif due to a retailer's or vendor's rejection or non-acceptance of anelectronic receipt record, or the receipt insurer's loss of a digitalreceipt record.

Receipt insurance also benefits retailers because the significantbusiness costs and complexity of generating paper receipts is largelyreduced or eliminated. Not only is this cost reduced, but a new revenuesource may be provided by a portion of the fees charged to consumers forthe receipt insurance services of electronic receipt creation andretrieval. Receipt insurance also benefits retailers by remotely storingcustomer receipt information so that it can easily be accessed by theretailer during returns, exchanges and/or warranty claims. This removesthe burden from the retailer of having to store customer receipt data,even if for a short period of time, or having a backup version forreference. Many retailers currently offer receiptless returns orexchanges, but most often this is only for a limited amount of time oronly for purchase under a specified amount. If a product needs to bereturned or warranty benefits honored six months to one year or moreafter purchase, many retailers require a paper receipt as proof ofpurchase because the electronic records of the transaction no longerexist. Providing receipt insurance to consumers also provides anincentive for consumers to purchase from participating retailers whoaccept receipt-insured electronic receipt records.

In addition, as further described, the receipt insurance systems andmethods of the present disclosure and related inventions enable a newform of fee-generating business, i.e., a new type of insurance againstloss. The receipt insurance fees or premiums can be collected by severaldifferent routes and methods in accordance with the disclosure. Mostdirectly, consumers wishing to obtain insurance coverage on one or morereceipts, i.e., on the legal and economic benefits of having a permanentelectronic record of a purchase transaction, can pay for such coverageon a per transaction basis. Alternatively, retailers, productmanufacturers or other sellers may provide receipt insurance or receiptassurance at their expense, or under certain conditions such aspurchases over a certain amount. Or a payment systems provider, such asa credit card issuer or debit card issuer may provide or pay the premiumfor the receipt insurance coverage for card holders for some or alltransactions, all as further disclosed and described herein. Forexample, a credit card issuer such as Visa®, MasterCard® or AmericanExpress® may include receipt insurance coverage as part of thecardholder contract agreement, or may charge an extra fee for receiptinsurance coverage, or charge a receipt insurance premium on a pertransaction basis only for those transaction which the cardholderselects, or collect a fee for a third party provider of the receiptinsurance coverage to cardholders and the fee revenue subsequently splitbetween the card issuer and the third party provider of receiptinsurance. Alternatively, a bank may provide or issuereceipt-insured-credit-cards either directly to cardholders or inconjunction with a card issuer such as Visa® or MasterCard® and the bankor a bank-owned entity or related entity may also provide thecorresponding receipt insurance coverage. In this sense, a single bank,or related bank entities or bank-owned entities may serve as thereceipt-insured-credit-card issuer and the receipt insurer, as furtherdescribed herein.

Business Models

The receipt insurance systems and methods of the disclosure can beimplemented by an independent third party receipt insurer, who stands asan intermediary between a two-party transaction to protect the interestsand rights of the consumer in connection with a purchase, asschematically shown in FIG. 1. A receipt insurer 2 agrees, bycontractual agreements with a consumer/purchaser 4 and a retailer/seller3 or personal property insurer, that the receipt insurer will pay forany losses which the consumer may incur with respect to a productpurchased from a retailer or seller as a result of not having a printedpaper receipt for the purchase of that product, or that an insurer ofpersonal property, such as under a home owner or renter insurancepolicy, will provide loss coverage for personal property the ownershipof which is proven by receipt records. As a result of having receiptinsurance coverage for a particular purchase, the insured consumer isnot required to maintain possession of a printed paper receipt 5 forthat purchase, and has no risk of financial loss which could result fromfailure to maintain possession of a printed paper receipt. Similarly,for receiptless purchase transactions, receipt insurance covers theconsumer against any financial loss which could result from loss of anelectronic receipt record, regardless of which party looses theelectronic receipt record.

The receipt insurance systems and methods of the invention maintain anelectronic database of individual receipt records for retrieval ifnecessary. The electronic receipt records of the Receipt Insurance areaccepted by agreement with participating sellers and retailers. In theevent that an electronic receipt record is lost by the receipt insurancesystem, any loss to the consumer as a result is covered by the receiptinsurer in accordance with the terms of the receipt insurance policy.Accordingly, the receipt insurance system facilitates the creation andstorage of electronic receipts of purchase transactions betweenconsumers and individual retailers, and provides certified or verifiedrecords of receipts upon request in place of paper receipts.

FIG. 2 schematically illustrates one embodiment of a receipt insurancesystem 1 of the disclosure in which a Receipt Insurer 2 providesinsurance coverage to a consumer against the risk of losses or loss ofrights resulting from the loss of a paper receipt from a seller. TheReceipt insurance system and method interfaces in one of the describedmanners with a retail point-of-sale (POS) system and/or a retailenterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. One embodiment of a typicalflow of sales transaction data in a retail environment uses a retailenterprise resource planning (ERP) system 10, a retail point-of-sale(POS) system 12, and optionally merchant payment services 14 and/ordebit or credit card POS systems 16. The pertinent receipt or purchasetransaction data is provided by a combination of the retail POS 12 andERP 10 systems. The receipt insurance system 22 obtains this informationby a data feed from the retailer to a queuing server 18 which is part ofthe receipt insurance system or platform. As used herein, the term“platform” is used to describe an operating environment under whichvarious smaller application programs can be designed to run. The term“system” as used herein refers to a working combination of hardware,software and data communications devices which are configured andprogrammed with the described features to perform the describedfunctions. The receipt insurance queuing server 18 collects all relevantinformation for each applicable transaction, for example transactionsfor which the consumer has agreed to have an electronic receiptgenerated and sent to the receipt insurance system 22 in lieu of atraditional paper receipt or which are covered under a blanket orstanding agreement, for a period of hours, day or days, or any relevanttime period, until such time as all the saved transaction informationoccurring during that time period is batched 20, for example as an ftpfile or email, and sent to the receipt insurance system 22. Once theinformation has been sent from the queuing server 18 to the receiptinsurance system 22, the receipt data is readily available for access bythe receipt insurer, consumer or the retailer or other receipt insurancesystem partners as further described.

As used herein, the term “receipt insurer” refers to and means a person,party, entity or corporate entity that agrees, according to the terms ofa binding insurance coverage contract with an insured, such as aconsumer of a product, to pay money or provide some other benefit to theinsured consumer in the event of a covered loss, such as the loss ordestruction of a product purchase receipt, whether in paper orelectronic form. In one embodiment of the present invention, the receiptinsurer also enters into an agreement with one or more retailers toprovide the receipt insurance service to consumers by agreement with theconsumer that the receipt insurer will cover any losses or loss ofrights the consumer may have as a result of not having possession of apaper receipt from a seller/retailer, either because the consumerelected not to receive a printed paper receipt from the seller as anoption at the point of sale, or as a result of loss or destruction ofthe original paper receipt which the seller requires for productreturns, exchanges or warranty claims. The functionality of the systemand method is based upon the agreements between the receipt insurer andthe seller/retailer and the consumer. The agreement between the receiptinsurer and retailer/seller establishes that the retailer will acceptthe receipt insurer's electronic record of an receipt insuredtransaction as an authentic and verified record of the transaction,treated contractually and legally as an exact equivalent of theretailer/seller's original paper receipt produced at the retailer/sellerPOS. The agreement between the receipt insurer and consumer is a promiseby the receipt insurer to cover, for example, any and all losses or lossof rights resulting from the absence of a paper receipt from theretailer/seller for any covered sales transaction. The lack of a receiptmay be intentional, as in the case of an electronic receipt optionoffered by the retailer in lieu of a paper receipt, or unintentional asin the case of loss or destruction of the original paper receipt, butmay be immaterial under the terms of the policy coverage. The receiptinsurance agreement, or policy terms and conditions, may include but notbe limited to: duration, premium amounts, limits of claim coverage,deductibles or expenses, claims submission requirements and process,participating retailers, exclusions, compliance with federal and statelaws and regulations, privacy protection, etc.

In one embodiment of the receipt insurance systems and methods, anelectronic record of all or selected sales transactions is acquired by aqueing server which is interfaced with a retail ERP, as shown in FIG. 2.This hardware and software interface has many advantages given that theinformation required to generate an electronic record of salestransaction is created by and originally resides with the retailer. Theretail infrastructure provides an additional benefit because retailsystems, such as the POS and ERP systems, can be easily interfaced withand configured to accommodate the data feed of receipt information tothe receipt insurance system. The retailer also has direct access to thecustomer to make them aware of the availability of receipt insurance,educate them on the benefits, and offer it as an additional service oroptional insurance product for all or any particular purchases, asfurther described. Most retailers already save consumer salestransaction data for a certain period of time, during which consumersmay return or exchange an item without having to present a physicalreceipt. However, the receipt insurance system insures the safekeepingof customer receipts for a much longer period of time than retailers do,and provides assurance to participating consumers, i.e. the insureds,that they will receive all the benefits of physically retaining a paperreceipt without actually having to do so, as a result of the assurancewhich the terms of the receipt insurance coverage policy the receiptinsurer provides. The present disclosure includes the concept ofcoverage of a consumers losses resulting either from the loss of a paperreceipt, and losses resulting from the loss of an electronic receipt,whether the electronic receipt, for example in the form of a digitalfile, is lost by the consumer or if lost by the receipt insurer.Examples of losses include, without limitation, inability to return orexchange a purchased product, inability to make a warranty claims torepair or replace a product, and inability to make a claim for personproperty loss or damage under a personal property or homeowner'sinsurance policy.

A retail partner may choose to offer receipt insurance as a value addedservice, in which case the retailer would directly compensate thereceipt insurance provider for providing and performing the service. Thereceipt insurance system can serve as a fee-generating service thatcustomers pay for on a per-transaction basis, on a one-time membershipfee basis or combinations and variations thereon. In such cases, thereceipt insurance provider and the retail partner could share in thefees generated by the service. A retailer agreement with the receiptinsurance provider may be exclusive to one retailer or may be availableto more than one retailer, or could be made available to a specifiedgeographic territory, limited to sales of certain monetary transactionsize or product categories, or not.

In another embodiment, the receipt insurance system can be implementedin cooperation with, or integrated with a credit card issuer such asVisa®, MasterCard® or American Express®, or other credit card or debitcard issuers or banks Since a significant portion of sales transactions,and particularly retail consumer sales transactions, involve paymentwith a credit card, credit card issuers can provide direct access tomany potential receipt insurance customers and in connection with thecredit card payment processing with retailers. In this embodiment,receipt insured customers are holders of receipt insurance-enabledcredit cards or debit cards. Credit card companies may easily providethe customer receipt insurance enrollment and fee or premium collectionand distribution functions within the existing credit card framework andrelated online services. It also eliminates the need for the receiptinsurance system to generate unique customer identification numbersbecause the consumer's credit card account numbers can serve as theunique key for account delineation amongst receipt-insured customers. Acredit card company may offer the receipt insurance services as anadditional or integrated service to its customers/cardholders, and maycharge a one-time, annual or other periodic receipt insurance fee orpremium. Alternatively, a credit card issuer, bank or retailer maycharge a per transaction receipt insurance fee or premium.

The agreement between the receipt insurer and a credit card company alsorequires the agreement of participating retailers, as the retailer isthe only source of the detailed receipt information required to produceaccurate electronic records of each purchase transaction. The receiptinsurance agreement also covers integration of the receipt insurancecomponents with retailer POS and/or ERP systems. All of the foregoingdescription with respect to credit cards is equally applicable to debitcards, which as known are bank or financial institution issued cardstied to an account from which purchases are debited against a cashbalance. A credit card account which includes the receipt insuranceservice may include on a card holder's monthly statement a line itemindicator for each purchase transaction whether or not that transactionis covered by receipt insurance, such as for example the abbreviation“RI” in the transaction description, thus indicating to the card holderthat an original paper receipt for that transaction is not required bythe retailer or seller for purposes of return, exchange or warrantyclaim in connection with the purchased merchandise. Additionally, thecard holder's statement of card activity may further include a code,such as an alpha-numeric code or optical code or Internet address orhyperlink which provides access to the electronic receipt data which ismaintained by the receipt insurer of the retailer or seller. The creditcard enabled receipt insurance system and method may also be implementedthrough the use of personal “smart” devices which perform purchasetransactions, such as smart cards, personal portable computers, cellphones or pre-programmed gift cards with magnetic or digital data thatincludes the receipt insurance coverage details described.

In yet another embodiment, the receipt insurance system is integratedwith an ERP provider. The ERP provider is the full source of asignificant portion of the software and hardware system which managesdetailed retail data necessary to provide accurate electronic records ofretail purchase transactions. The ERP system infrastructure may beeasily configured to feed the necessary receipt information inelectronic form to the receipt insurance system, in particular thereceipt insurance system database which stores the insured electronicreceipt records for later retrieval if required, all in accordance withthe terms of the receipt insurance coverage. However, POS system dataalso requires data connection with retailers and the interaction betweenthe receipt insurance system components and retail POS systems.

In still another embodiment, the receipt insurance system is integratedwith a Merchant Payment Services Provider (MPSP) 14 or intermediarybetween cardholders and a card issuer such as Visa®, responsible forauthorizing and classifying credit card purchases. Because a MPSP alsohas access to credit card account numbers and purchase transactionamounts, the receipt insurance premium or fee can also be processed withthe purchase amount and the transaction imported to the receiptinsurance system. Some additional information related to the purchasetransaction, such as product details, may be separately acquireddirectly from the seller/retailer or by the MPSP.

Receipt Insurance Method

Receipt insurance can be offered to consumers on a per transactionbasis, for example, a small service fee or premium charged pertransaction such as for example $00.10 per transaction or a service feebased on the percentage of total purchase, for example one (1) percentor less of the item purchase amount or a total purchase amount. Charginga per transaction fee allows consumers to pick and choose which purchasetransactions will be insured and memorialized by an electronic record ofthe transaction, saved and insured by the receipt insurance system.Consumers may not wish to have an electronic receipt generated and savedfor small or insignificant purchase transactions. However, consumers arelikely to prefer an electronic record of the transaction when thetransaction involves high-priced or long-lasting items or items thathave a warranty, or which will be covered under a personal property orhomeowners insurance policy, such as jewelry, watches, artwork,electronics, etc. Alternatively, receipt insurance may be offered toconsumers on a membership or blanket coverage basis, for example, ayearly service fee will provide the consumer with receipt insurance foreach transaction made with participating retailers and for which aunique receipt insurance consumer number, i.e., unique insured numberhas been presented. This payment method allows for the inclusion of allconsumer transactions at participating retailers.

The receipt insurance coverage of the present disclosure is establishedand governed by contracts and agreements with the involved parties. Withrespect to sellers or retailers, an agreement with the receipt insuranceprovider states in essence that the seller of an item of merchandise (orof a service) will accept, in those instances where the seller wouldotherwise require the buyer to produce an original or paper receipt, anelectronic record of the receipt from the receipt insurer as a fulllegal equivalent to the original receipt which the seller issued. Theagreements with sellers or retailers could be in the form of two partybusiness contracts with customary terms and conditions which set forththe duties and obligations of the parties. With respect to the buyer orconsumer, an agreement in the form of an insurance policy with thereceipt insurer is a promise by the receipt insurer to cover and protectthe insured consumer, e.g. in the form of payment, for any losses orloss of rights which the consumer incurs as a result of not havingpossession of an original receipt from the seller of a product orservice which the consumer purchased. In one embodiment, theseagreements or contracts with consumers could be set forth entirely on awebsite of the receipt insurance provider, configured to require aperson wishing to acquire receipt insurance to read and “click-through”or otherwise agree to the terms of the receipt insurance coverage. Asimilar contract formation methodology can be used in connection withreceipt insurance offered in connection with a credit or debit card.Paper copies of the policy terms can also be delivered to the insureds.

In another embodiment, receipt insurance coverage may be provided toconsumers at no charge or zero premium. For example, all purchases madeby the consumer at participating retailers will be capturedelectronically and saved in the receipt insurance system and covered bya receipt insurance policy. If the consumer requires retrieval andprinted proof of the transaction, the receipt insurance system maycharge a retrieval or printing fee for each requested transaction as acondition of coverage. This option may seem more economical to consumersbecause there is no cost to insure the proof of purchase data andpayment is only necessary should retrieval be required. Another optionis to provide the entire receipt insurance service at no cost to theconsumer. This method requires that the receipt insurance agreementswith different retailers, one or more credit card companies or otherretail service providers to provide the service to consumers as aservice in conjunction with the retail sales service and/or the paymentservice. In this embodiment, the receipt insurance provider would becompensated by the particular retail service provider that serves as apartner in providing the receipt insurance service to consumers. Retailservice providers may choose to partner with the receipt insurer toprovide receipt insurance to its customers, gain customer loyalty, andoffer the insurance coverage as an added benefit to its customer base.

Insured Identification Number

Each customer that elects to acquire receipt insurance coverage may beassigned a unique customer identification number within the receiptinsurance system. This number serves as the unique key that allows allelectronic transaction data to be attributed to a particular customer inthe receipt insurance system. A unique customer identification number isgenerated and assigned to each unique consumer on the occasion of eitherelecting to have a first retail transaction receipt generatedelectronically and saved within the receipt insurance system, or byelecting to obtain receipt insurance in any one of the ways described.The unique customer identification number can be printed on a card orkey fob similar to a retail rewards card, wherein the consumer maypresent the card to a participating retailer to identify the consumer asa member of the receipt insurance system, or it can be encodedmagnetically on a card, or programmed into memory of a digital devicesuch as a smart card, computer, cell phone or other personal or portabledigital device. A receipt insurance identification card may be swiped bya card reader or the customer identification number may otherwise beentered into the retail POS system or other peripheral receiptinsurance-based system in order to relate the unique customeridentification number to the retail transaction.

Another method of associating the unique customer identification numberto a particular consumer is by agreement with a credit card companywherein the unique customer identification number is uniquely associatedto the consumer's credit card number in the credit card issuer accountsystem so that each time that particular credit card is used as a formof payment, an electronic receipt is generated and saved within thereceipt insurance system. If the unique customer identification numberis not tied to a credit card or other receipt insurance issuedmembership card, the consumer can alternatively give the retail cashierthe unique number assigned by the receipt insurance system to be typedinto the retail POS system or other peripheral receipt insurance basedsystem at the time of purchase, or the consumer may be prompted to enterthe number into a retailer provided keypad or signature capture devicewhen entering other pertinent payment information. A consumer may alsobe issued a unique customer identification number by enrolling orpurchasing receipt insurance on a receipt insurance system website or byentering a paper based receipt into a kiosk or automated receipt machine(ARM), methods further described below.

Receipt Insurance Process at Point of Sale

Once the consumer has been assigned a unique customer identificationnumber, the consumer may begin taking advantage of the many benefitsoffered by the receipt insurance system such as, requesting anelectronic receipt from participating retailers at physical stores oronline via a receipt insurance website, converting traditionalpaper-based receipts to electronic receipts stored within the receiptinsurance system via a kiosk or ARM, and viewing, sorting and retrievingstored electronic receipts, and submitting a claim to the receiptinsurance system at any time for an electronic record of a receipt, theacceptance of which by the seller is insured by the receipt insurer.

As is shown in the flow chart of FIG. 3, the process of obtaining anelectronic receipt to be sent to and stored within the receipt insurancesystem from a participating retailer (physical store or online retailwebsite) begins when a consumer makes a purchase, as indicated atreference numeral 24. A participating retailer may be any retailer thathas partnered with or otherwise agreed to the legal terms of the thirdparty receipt insurance coverage system, and establishes a datainterface between its sales transaction management system and thereceipt insurance system. Terms of the retailer agreement with thereceipt insurer include payment methods which may include: consumersbeing charged a per transaction or a percentage of each purchase amount;consumers being charged a one-time flat membership fee; consumers beingcharged no initial fee but a fee for each receipt retrieval; orretailers providing the service at no cost to the consumer. In eachcase, the agreement will include what percentage of the consumer feescollected will go to the receipt insurer and what percentage will go tothe retailer and/or to a payment systems provider such as Visa® orMasterCard®. If the retailer is offering the receipt insurance serviceas an included or value-added service and charges no fees to theconsumer, then the agreement will include an alternative compensatoryarrangement by which the retailer compensates the receipt insurer forproviding the service to its customers. A retail cashier may offer tosell or provide receipt insurance to each customer during each salestransaction 26. For example, at the point of sale a customer may beasked, prior to machine generation of a paper receipt, whether he or shewishes to purchase for a small fee (or no fee at all) receipt insurancefor the current transaction. Retailers can encourage and promote the useof receipt insurance for the customer's convenience and advantage andbecause the retailer may realize additional income from the transactionor induce customer loyalty. An electronic cash register may beprogrammed to remind the live cashier to offer receipt insurance to thecustomer.

If the consumer declines receipt insurance at the point of sale 28, aconventional paper receipt is generated and given to the customer uponcompletion of the transaction 30. In this respect, the receipt insurancesystem and method can easily co-exist in the same retail operation withconventional paper receipt transaction processing. If the consumeragrees to accept or acquire receipt insurance coverage at 32, theconsumer may be asked by the live cashier if he/she is an existingreceipt insurance customer at step 34. If the consumer is an existingreceipt insurance customer 36, he/she must present his/her uniquecustomer identification number 38 prior to completion of the salestransaction in order for the purchase to be covered. This can beperformed in a variety of ways. For example, in one embodiment, the usermay present a receipt insurance card or other digital data carryingdevice which contains the consumer's unique customer identificationnumber. The card may be swiped through a card reader or any other dataexchange system. In another embodiment, the user or cashier may manuallyenter the consumer's unique customer identification number into theretail POS or receipt insurance based system so that the purchase datais matched with the unique customer identification number. In yetanother embodiment, the consumer's unique customer identification numbermay be tied to the consumer's credit card or other payment device whichautomatically relates the purchase transaction data to the particularconsumer within the receipt insurance system. If the consumer is not anexisting receipt insurance customer 40 (or “insured”) and therefore doesnot have a unique customer identification number, then the cashier mayhave instructions to prompt the consumer for a small amount of personalinformation such as name, address and telephone number at the point ofsale, wherein the consumer's unique customer identification number maybe generated 42.

After the sales transaction is completed and the consumer has agreed toaccept receipt insurance and paid the receipt insurance service fee orpremium (if applicable) 44, an electronic record of the transaction inthe form of an electronic receipt is generated, optionally encrypted,and sent at step 46 over a secure network to a storage device within orassociated with the receipt insurance system 48. In one embodiment, theencrypted electronic receipt is staged in a queuing server and batcheduntil the end of the day or another period of time, when all electronicreceipt data is sent to a permanent storage device within or associatedwith the receipt insurance system. The queuing server may be located atthe point of sale or at a remote, off-site location. In one embodiment,the data may be pushed in real time directly to permanent storage withinthe receipt insurance system. Once the information reaches the permanentstorage device, it is available for retrieval and certification forfuture use, as further described herein.

For automated checkout systems, the offer of receipt insurance can beprogrammed into the card wedge or signature capture device as a YES/NOscreen which the customer must click or tap through. The screen mayappear after the consumer has finished scanning all his/her items and ispreparing to tender payment. A representative selection screen 50 isshown in FIG. 4. When the user selects the ‘Receipt Insurance’ option51, a second screen may appear requesting the consumer's unique customeridentification number in the receipt insurance system. If the consumeris an existing receipt insurance customer, he/she can manually enterhis/her unique customer identification number and proceed to tenderpayment. If the consumer is not an existing receipt insurance customer,he/she may indicate that on the screen and may be taken to a thirdscreen on which he/she may enter a small amount of personal information,such as name, address and telephone number. A unique customeridentification number will be generated by the receipt insurance system.At that point, the receipt insurance service fee or premium (ifapplicable) will be added to the consumer's total bill and the consumercan proceed with the checkout sequence of the automated checkout machineto complete the purchase transaction. The automated checkout machine maybe configured to issue a paper receipt even if receipt insurance isacquired.

Acquiring Receipt Insurance Coverage after Purchase

The receipt insurance system is also capable of converting existingpaper receipts into insured electronic receipts that are stored withinthe receipt insurance system as is described in the flow chart of FIG.5. This may be necessary for old receipts, receipts fromnon-participating retailers or receipts from participating retailerswhere the consumer declined receipt insurance at the point of sale 52. Aconsumer can securely create an electronic receipt within the receiptinsurance system, from a paper receipt, by the use of a kiosk, anAutomated Receipt Machine (ARM), or other such manned or unmannedfacility or device. As used herein, the term kiosk includes but is notlimited to a manned service station which provides assistance toconsumers for using a scanner or other such device that is configured toreceive a paper receipt (or to receive information from a paper receipt)and to create an electronic receipt for use in the receipt insurancesystem. Similarly, the term “ARM” refers to an unmanned self-servemachine or station, similar to an Automated Teller Machine (ATM), thatis capable of receiving a paper receipt (or to receive information froma paper receipt) and to create an electronic receipt therefrom for usein the receipt insurance system. This invention is not limited to adedicated free-standing kiosk or ARM, but can be practiced by anysuitably configured hardware/software combination capable of collectingthe necessary information from a paper receipt and creating anelectronic record thereof, which can be verified as an accurate salestransaction record. For example, any suitable scanning or characterrecognition device can be used to create a data file which istransferable to and verifiable by the receipt insurance system. Also,this procedure can be practiced by any terminal or device such as apersonal computer or digital scanner which can otherwise receive inputof information from a receipt and create an electronic receipt for useby the receipt insurance system, such as, for example, an internetwebsite configured for use by a consumer with defined fields forinputting information from a receipt, including date, time, list ofitems purchased and corresponding purchase prices, and any uniquetransaction numbers or codes (which may or may not be associated with agraphic identifier such as a bar or block code), or which is capable ofreceiving graphic image files or optically scanned files or receipts.

If a consumer makes a purchase at a non-participating retailer or theconsumer declines receipt insurance coverage at the point of sale 52,then a paper receipt is generated at 54. To convert that paper receiptinto an electronic receipt which is generated by and stored within thereceipt insurance system, the consumer must visit a receipt insurancekiosk or ARM 56, or enter the receipt information into the receiptinsurance system over the Internet, for example by accessing the receiptinsurance system website and transferring a digital file such as a .pdfor .jpeg formatted file. A link to a receipt insurance implementationsite or page may also be provided on the corresponding retailer'swebsite. A receipt insurance employee (in the case of the kiosk) or auser screen (in the case of the ARM) will inquire whether the user isalready an existing receipt insurance customer 58. If the consumer isnot an existing receipt insurance customer 60, then the kiosk employeeor ARM user screen may prompt the user to provide a minimal amount ofpersonal information, such as name, address and telephone number at step62. Once this information is obtained, a unique customer identificationnumber is generated at step 62. If the consumer is an existing receiptinsurance customer 64, then he/she will be prompted to provide his/herunique customer identification number at step 66. The consumer mustpresent his/her unique customer identification number to the kioskemployee or must enter it into the ARM. Fees (if any) for generating anelectronic receipt from a paper receipt may be calculated and acceptedby the manned or unmanned receipt insurance receipt stations 68. Paymentmethods may include cash, credit card, debit card, PayPal™ or any othercommonly accepted electronic payment system. Once the consumer hastendered payment, an electronic receipt is generated, encrypted andtransmitted to the RI system 70. The original paper receipt may beretained by the kiosk employee or ARM and may be shredded or otherwisedestroyed at step 70. An advantage of the receipt insurance kiosk orterminal is that it can be used to put receipt insurance in place withparticipating retailers without direct involvement with the in-storecheckout procedures of the retailers.

Receipt Insurance for Online Purchases

Receipts for online retail purchases may also be electronicallygenerated by and saved within the receipt insurance system in connectionwith any type of online or Internet purchase system such as those usedin connection with e-tailer websites over which goods are sold. In oneembodiment as shown as an example in FIG. 6, the retail checkout orpayment website of a participating online retailer through which receiptinsurance is available will, on any particular screen of the checkout orpayment processing, such as screen 71, contain a checkbox or hyperlink72 or other graphical user interface that when selected, indicates theconsumer's desire to acquire receipt insurance coverage for thepurchase. There may also be an accompanying hyperlink or bubble 73 whichcontains an explanation of the details of receipt insurance coverage,and/or a link to a separate website of a receipt insurance provider,where the terms of coverage and a complete copy of the receipt insurancepolicy including all applicable terms and conditions is accessible andwhich may further require the consumer's agreement therewith, andfurther be configured to accept and process payment for receiptinsurance coverage. When the receipt insurance option 72 is selected,the user may be prompted to enter his/her unique customer identificationnumber in fields which appear. Again, if the user is not an existingreceipt insurance customer, the consumer may be prompted to enter somepersonal identifying information such as name, address and telephonenumber. A unique customer identification number will be automaticallygenerated upon the consumer providing such information. Where theconsumer accepts receipt insurance, no paper copy of the originalelectronic receipt will be generated and delivered to the customer,either by e-mail, with the product shipment packaging or under separatecover. The checkbox 72 or user interface mechanism that offers receiptinsurance can be conveniently located proximate to the other paymentrelated information located on the page, such as credit card informationand billing information. The receipt insurance fees (if any) will becalculated (either a flat fee or percentage of total purchase fee) andadded to the total purchase price. A “receipt insurance” label or icon74 located on the payment page can be hyperlinked to an explanation ofthe details of the receipt insurance service, including disclosure ofthe terms of coverage and any applicable fees or other details.

Process for Retrieval of an Insured Receipt Record

Once an electronic receipt has been generated and processed so that itresides on a long term storage device within the receipt insurancesystem, it is available for retrieval and use as required, for exampleto honor any claims which a consumer might make for purposes of aproduct return, replacement or repair. There are several methods bywhich a consumer may retrieve receipt information from the receiptinsurance system. In one embodiment, a consumer wishing to return,exchange, or make a warranty claim on a product purchased from aparticipating retailer can simply take the item to the participatingretailer and present his/her unique customer identification number andperhaps some information identifying the product such as an SKU numberor the date of purchase. A store employee can enter the consumer'sunique identification number into the receipt insurance system andelectronically view and/or retrieve the electronic record of the itempurchased. In this scenario, there is never a need to actually print outa paper version of the electronic receipt. This method simplifies thereturn, exchange or warranty claim processing, or reimbursement or taxreporting, while saving time and the cost of receipt paper and printerink. In another embodiment, the consumer wishing to return, exchange orclaim rights under a product warranty to a non-participating retailer ormanufacturer, can login to a secure receipt insurance website byentering his/her unique customer identification number, locate theappropriate receipt record and print a paper copy of the receipt thatcan be taken directly to or emailed to the non-participating retailer ormanufacturer. In still another embodiment, a consumer that does not haveaccess to a computer or printing device can visit a local kiosk or ARM,enter his/her unique customer identification number (or provide it to akiosk employee), locate the appropriate receipt record (by searching orproviding some item identifying information such as a SKU number or dateof purchase), and request a printout of the appropriate receipt record.

Receipts printed from the receipt insurance system may contain aparticular bar or other scan code, certification number, digitalcertification, or other specific insignia designated by the receiptinsurance system which indicates that the receipt is a valid electronicrecord of a receipt and/or a certified copy of a receipt which isinsured by the receipt insurer.

Receipt Insurance Website

As referenced previously in this disclosure, the receipt insurancesystem may further include a website that is configured to enroll newcustomers, i.e., to put receipt insurance coverage in place, to provideexisting customers with entry and retrieval of electronic receipts alongwith searching, sorting and organization methods, and the ability toemail receipts and/or gift receipts to interested third parties, and tosubmit and process claims for receipt insurance coverage. A consumerwishing to acquire receipt insurance and enroll in the receipt insurancesystem can visit the receipt insurance website and enter requiredinformation that may include for example name, address, telephone numberand optionally credit card or other electronic payment information andthe names of retailers. Also, the receipt insurance website may list allof the participating retailers. Once the user has entered the requiredinformation, the receipt insurance system will generate a uniquecustomer identification number for the consumer and set up a customeraccount within the receipt website. A membership card or key fob withthe customer's identification number may be produced and mailed to thecustomer. As noted, consumers can alternately enroll in the receiptinsurance system at the point of sale (by a live cashier), via a printedform that can be mailed to a receipt insurance administrator, or wherethe receipt insurance service is offered in connection with a creditcard company, the consumer may acquire receipt insurance protection byvisiting the credit card company website or completing a form that isreturned to the credit card company, or directly to a receipt insuranceadministrator.

An existing receipt insurance customer requiring a printed version of asaved electronic receipt can search through his/her saved receipts forthe appropriate record. Search parameters may include, but are notlimited to, date of purchase, place of purchase, purchase price, paymentmethod, and SKU number or description of a purchased item. Once theappropriate electronic receipt record has been located, the user may(depending on the business model) have to pay a retrieval fee before thereceipt is available for download or printing. Payment can be madeonline using any commonly accepted electronic payment method. Once theretrieval fee has been paid, the receipt is unencrypted and formattedfor printing, downloading or emailing.

In addition to locating receipts for printing or emailing purposes,receipt insurance customers can also sort and organize receipts in avariety of ways. For example, customer's may sort receipts intodedicated folders which correspond to, for example, a specific retailer,the type or category of products purchased (e.g., clothing, house wares,electronics, etc.), the total amount spent, or by the time period (e.g.,week, month, year, etc.) in which the items were purchased. Once thereceipts have been sorted into separate folders or categories, thesystem may allow the user to total the dollar amount spent in eachcategory or total the number of items in each category. This providesthe user with an opportunity to analyze spending habits and budgetingissues.

Receipt insurance customers can also forward saved electronic receiptsvia email to interested third parties. This feature may save the userfrom having to print out a paper copy of the receipt. For example, areceipt may be emailed to the manufacturer of a product to show that theconsumer is entitled to a warranty claim. Also, if the consumerpurchases an item that will be presented as a gift and the receipt waselectronically generated and stored within the RI system, the consumermay simply locate the receipt, indicate that a gift receipt is required,and provide the email address of the gift recipient. The system willremove all pricing information before emailing the electronic receipt tothe gift recipient. The consumer may also indicate a date on which theconsumer would like the gift receipt sent to the gift recipient. If thegift recipient does not need to return or exchange the gifted item, thenthe receipt never has to be printed in paper form. Depending on thebusiness model, a retrieval fee may be required for retrieving andemailing a copy of a gift or other receipt to a third party.

Receipt Insurance System Components

Data communication exist between the receipt insurance system andseveral remote computer systems, namely, retail POS systems (andpotentially retail ERP systems), consumer devices, which may includepersonal computers, personal digital assistants (PDA), cell phones,smart phones, smart card, and handheld computers, and the receiptinsurance kiosk systems and the described automated receipt insurancemachine (ARIM) which accepts and reads a paper receipt and issues areceipt insurance policy thereon, and accepts payment for the insurancepolicy premium. The hardware and software components of the receiptinsurance system may vary depending on the business model selected. Forexample, if receipt is offered in connection with a retailer, a creditcard company or other third party retail service provider, one or morecomponents of the existing infrastructure of the partner may be used toimplement the receipt insurance system. Components of the receiptinsurance system may include one or more client devices, one or moreapplication servers, one or more queuing servers, one or more databaseservers, one or more web servers, one or more relational databases orother large data storage device, a web portal, and one or morecommunication technologies such as for example various I/O devices andother related peripherals, public or private networks, both wired andwireless, local area networks (LAN) and/or wide area networks (WAN).Software will also be installed on the receipt insurance services andplatform servers, the retail point of sale systems, and the receiptinsurance kiosk or ARM.

The receipt data and customer information stored within the receiptinsurance system may be stored in a relational database or other largedata storage device. This storage device will contain all receipt dataand may also contain personal customer information such as name, addressand telephone number. The key that links the customer information withthe corresponding customer data is the unique customer identificationnumber. The receipt and customer data stored within the receiptinsurance system is encrypted for security purposes.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that numerousvariations and/or modifications may be made to the invention as shown inthe specific embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope ofthe invention as broadly described. The present embodiments are,therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and notrestrictive. Other features and aspects of this invention will beappreciated by those skilled in the art upon reading and comprehendingthis disclosure. Such features, aspects, and expected variations andmodifications of the reported results and examples are clearly withinthe scope of the invention where the invention is limited solely by thescope of the following claims.

In further embodiments of the systems and methods of the disclosure,receipt insurance coverage can be put into place in connection with alltypes of consumer transactions and consumer transaction mediums,including but not limited to online transactions over the World Wide Webvia the transaction servers of websites of online retailers such as forexample www.amazon.com. When receipt insurance is offered by a sellersuch as an online retailer, the sale of receipt insurance coverage orpolicy can be accomplished in connection with the “checkout” processwhere the purchaser inputs necessary information such as name, address,credit card or other electronic payment instructions and data. Aseparate button icon suitably labeled such as “e-receipt”, “receiptinsurance”, “insured receipt” or the like and a hyperlink to furtherexplanation of the terms and conditions of receipt insurance coverage,and a complete online copy of a receipt insurance policy. As furthershown in FIG. 8, receipt insured transactions can be identified andaccessed in online statements 80 by a receipt insurance icon or symbolsuch as “RI” which both identifies the transaction as being covered byreceipt insurance, and which may provide a hyperlink to further detailsabout the transaction and/or terms of the receipt insurance coverage,such as for retrieval of the corresponding electronic receiptinformation for any purpose, access to the receipt insurance policyand/or a hyperlink to the websites of the retailer or the receiptinsurer to access this and other information.

The receipt insurance system and methods of the disclosure work equallywell in connection with wireless transactions over the internet and theWorld Wide Web. For example, the described receipt insurance offeringand implementation in connection with any website can also be carriedout with any wireless or mobile device with connection to the internet.Even where a screen display of an online retail website for a mobiledevice is different or modified from a full version of the website,receipt insurance can still be easily offered and implemented by use ofbuttons, icons or click-through and corresponding links. With e-mailconfirmation of a transaction and corresponding receipt insurancecoverage, receipt of such confirmation by the wireless device by whichthe transaction was made is also enabled, as further described. Also,wireless purchase transactions such as by a “digital wallet” devicewhich carries payment account information which can be wirelessly readby a point-of-sale terminal, can be coded or programmed to invokereceipt insurance coverage in connection with the payment account. Forexample, in the case of a Visa or MasterCard account which has receiptinsurance coverage as an aspect of the account agreement, as furtherdescribed below, and which is encoded on a wireless device such as asmart phone, the performance of a purchase transaction with that deviceautomatically puts into place the receipt insurance coverage for thatpurchase transaction, without any additional input by the purchaser orretailer.

Wireless Device Receipt Display

Further in accordance with the systems and methods of the presentdisclosure, retail POS system such as in-store POS terminals and onlineretail systems (websites) are configured to transmit to wireless devicestransaction receipts in any form and including complete or partialfacsimiles of paper receipts such as produced by printers connected toPOS terminals or cash registers. As shown in FIG. 7, the transmitted anddisplayed image of the receipt can be formatted and oriented tooptimally fit on a generally oblong or rectangular display 77 of awireless device 78 such as for example the Apple “iPhone” or Samsung“Droid” brand products or similar devices. The displayed receipt ispreferably an exact facsimile or copy of a printed version, includingthe store name and logo, bar codes or Q codes or other codes, and allother transaction information. When the length of the displayed receiptexceeds the length of the display, a scroll function in the receiptdisplay application allows the user to scroll through the entire lengthof the display by control of the wireless device display, such as bytouch screen control. Other display features such as zoom in/out arealso operative on the receipt display. The receipt display applicationalso functions to effect management and storage of the receipt imagewhich has been transmitted to and displayed by a wireless device. Oneoperation is to store the receipt image in the memory of the wirelessdevice. Another operation is to transmit the display receipt image to aremote destination, such as to an e-mail account, a bookkeeping programsuch as Quicken or Mint, or to a third party website and associated datastorage server such as may be maintained by a receipt insurance provideror payment systems provider. These save and transmit functions can beprompted and effected by command buttons which are displayed with thereceipt or subsequent to transmission and display of the receipt. Thestorage or transmit destinations may be pre-defined or prompted forentry, and programmed or programmable into the application, to forexample generate pop-up controls as part of the receipt display forsave, delete, store and send operations.

The described wireless transactions with receipt transmission anddisplay to wireless devices are in connection with receipt insurance,wherein the digital receipts are insured by a third party insurer, or bya payment systems provider such as a credit or debit card issuer or bankor other financial institution, to function the same as and preserve allrights associated with a printed paper receipt. For example, a digitalreceipt as received and displayed on a wireless device as described, isfully accepted by agreement with the issuing retailer or seller, toprovide all the attendant consumer rights such as proof of purchase,returns, exchanges, rebates, warranty claims for replacement or repair,loyalty points, etc.

In an alternate embodiment of the method of receipt insurance, aconsumer purchase transaction may be insured with respect to aconsumer's rights with respect to the possession of a receipt for aparticular transaction by a payment systems provider such as a creditcard or debit card issuer or bank. For example, a credit card issuersuch as American Express, Visa or MasterCard, or any bank or otherfinancial or credit extension business, may as a term of the creditaccount agreement, insure or otherwise cover the cardholder (e.g.,account holder) against losses resulting from the lack of a physicalreceipt or even an electronic record of a receipt for a particularpurchase transaction, subject to the terms and conditions of aninsurance policy which is part of the cardholder agreement. A creditcard associated with the described receipt insurance is referred toherein as a “receipt-insured-credit-card”, and includes and is notlimited to convention plastic cards with corresponding account numbersfor credit accounts, debit accounts and combinations thereof regardlessof the type of cash or credit accounts from which credit or cash isdrawn or debited for purchases, smart cards or any other devices encodedor programmed in any manner with account information.

With reference to FIG. 9, a Receipt Insurer 100 establishes by agreementReceipt Insurance 105, i.e. an agreement to cover losses incurred by aconsumer which may result from failure to possess a physical receipt orother proof of purchase in connection with a purchase transaction, witha Credit Card Issuer 102, under which losses or loss of rights which maybe incurred by the consumer/cardholder 110 in connection with a purchasefrom a retailer 112 made with a receipt-insured-credit-card 1021, andwhich may be related to the absence of a physical or paper receipt, arecovered under the terms of the policy. The credit card issuer 102 refersto either a bank or other financial institution, a credit card companysuch as American Express®, or a credit card payment systems providersuch as Visa® or MasterCard® in conjunction with a bank. The receiptinsurance coverage is preferably made a part of the cardholder agreementindicated at 101 for a receipt-insured-credit-card or receipt-insuredaccount shown at 1021 between the Credit Card Issuer 102 and the CreditCard Holder 110. The cost of the insurance coverage to the consumer, orin other words the “insurance premium” can be incorporated into the costof the credit card issuance under the cardholder agreement 101, or as anadditional cost or surcharge. In other words, the cost of the receiptinsurance may be borne entirely by the credit card issuer, entirely bythe credit card holder, or divided between the two. When theconsumer/cardholder 110 pays a fee or other consideration to the creditcard issuer 102 for the receipt insurance service, the credit cardissuer 102, which as noted may be a bank or credit card company,receives an economic benefit as a result as indicated by the symbol ($)on line 101, which may be in the form of retention or part or all of anyfees paid by cardholders 110.

In accordance with the invention, there need not be an actual insuranceagreement or policy either between the Receipt Insurer 100 and theCredit Card Issuer 102, or between the Credit Card Issuer 102 and theconsumer/cardholder 110, but rather simply a contractual agreement bywhich the credit card issuer 102 and/or the retailer 112 agree toprotect the consumer/cardholder 110 from losses which would otherwiseresult from failing to possess a receipt record, whether in paper orelectronic form. To cover the cost of fulfilling such contractualpromise to the consumer/cardholder 110, the Receipt Insurer 100 (or theCredit Card Issuer 102 or holding company thereof) may acquire businessinsurance, a bond or other form of guaranty or simply a commitment ofcapital from any source, such as for example a bond issuer, bank orother financial institution, insurer or re-insurer.

The receipt or receipt data, an example of which is shown at 1022,including the itemized listing of goods purchased and prices paid,credits, exchanges, taxes and total transaction amount and any otherinformation provided by the retailer in connection with purchasetransactions indicated at 106 can be captured and/or transferred in itsentirety to the credit card issuer as indicated at 103 (“e-receiptdata”), and/or to the consumer/cardholder at 109 (for example to acomputer account or to a wireless device such as a wireless receiverwith digital wallet function, and/or to the receipt insurer as indicatedat 104 and 114 in electronic form for storage and later reference in theevent of need for the receipt record, and/or to thereceipt-insured-credit-card issuer at 103 for subsequent access by thecardholder at 108. Alternatively, the cardholder 110 may access receiptdata directly from the receipt insurer 100. Once the complete electronicreceipt record is received by either the credit card issuer 102 or thereceipt insurer 100, the receipt insurance protection or guarantee canbe carried out by agreement with the retailer to accept the electronicreceipt record, which may be accessed by the cardholder from the cardissuer at 108 or alternatively from the receipt insurer, for any purposein connection with the purchase, including for example refunds,exchanges or warranty claims, indicated at 107 as “post-purchasetransactions”. In the event of a loss to the consumer/cardholder 110 asa result of loss of receipt data or failure to possess a physicalreceipt or other proof of purchase, claims can be made directly to thereceipt insurer 100 by the consumer/cardholder 110 as indicated.

The receipt insurance system of the disclosure further includes revenuegenerating and transfer functions by which proceeds from insurancepremiums associated with the cardholder agreement are collected by thecredit card issuer and may be shared with or otherwise transferred toparticipating retailers or merchants. As explained, the credit cardissuer 102 may receive an economic benefit in the form of fees or othercharges for the receipt insurance service, either collected directly orindirectly from cardholders 110. Additionally and alternatively, thecredit card issuer and/or the receipt insurer may pay theretailer/merchant or otherwise enter into a fee distribution or sharingagreement retailers/merchants as indicated at 105, for example inexchange for the acquisition of sufficient receipt data or e-receiptdata 103 from the retailer/merchant on receipt-insured transactions, oras a form of revenue sharing of the premiums or other consideration paidby cardholders 110 for the receipt insurance coverage. In a preferredembodiment, the per-receipt payment to the retailer for eachreceipt-insured receipt information received is made by the credit cardissuer 102 to the retailer 112, for example as a transaction fee credit,such as for example one-quarter of one percent reduction in thetransaction fee charged for that transaction. This payment to theretailer 112 for the electronic record of a receipt-insured receiptcompensates the retailer for honoring all of the consumer/cardholder'srights in connection with the transaction without the need for aphysical paper receipt, and provides a financial incentive for theretailer to participate in the receipt insurance system, in addition tothe cost savings to the retailer of not having to print a paper receiptfor receipt insured transactions, i.e. transactions completed withreceipt-insured-credit-cards.

The systems and methods thus disclosed provide, among other advantagesand benefits, consumer protection against losses resulting from notpossessing a physical receipt, fee generation for credit card issuersand retailers, elimination the of costs associated with printing paperreceipts, and elimination of the requirement of physical possession ofpaper receipts for post-purchase transactions.

What is claimed is:
 1. A receipt insurance credit card payment systemfor purchase transactions by use of receipt-insured-credit-cards aspayment in conjunction with hardware and software configured forpurchase transaction receipt data processing and management wherebyreceipt for purchase transactions by use of receipt-insured-credit-cardsare insured under an insurance agreement, the receipt insurance creditcard payment system comprising: an insurance agreement between a receiptinsurer and a credit card issuer in connection with a credit cardaccount to provide a receipt-insured-credit-card by which a cardholderof a receipt-insured-credit-card issued by a receipt-insured-credit-cardissuer is insured under the insurance agreement against loss of rightsrelated to a receipt for a purchase transaction made with thereceipt-insured-credit-card; a computer server connected to a computingdevice of a cardholder by which an account for areceipt-insured-credit-card is arranged; the receipt-insured-credit-cardconfigured for acceptance as payment by a retailer by a communicationdevice for a purchase transaction as a charge against areceipt-insured-credit-card account; a data transfer connection betweenthe retailer and the receipt-insured-credit-card issuer for transfer ofreceipt data including an itemized listing of goods for purchasetransactions by receipt-insured-credit-cards from the retailer to thereceipt-insured-credit-card issuer or to the receipt insurer or to thecardholder, and a queinq server and a data storage device configured toreceive and store the receipt data for access by thereceipt-insured-credit-card cardholder or the receipt insurer; whereinthe insurance agreement is incorporated in terms of issuance between thereceipt-insured-credit-card issuer and cardholders ofreceipt-insured-credit-cards, and a receipt-insured-credit-cardcardholder is insured under the insurance agreement against loss ofrights related to a receipt for a purchase transaction made with thereceipt-insured-credit-card upon use of the receipt-insured-credit-cardas payment for a purchase transaction by the communication device. 2.The receipt insurance credit card payment system of claim 1 wherein thereceipt insurance of the insurance agreement is implemented by acardholder's acceptance and use of the receipt-insured-credit-card forpurchase transactions by the cardholder with a retailer by thecommunication device.
 3. The receipt insurance credit card paymentsystem of claim 1 wherein the retailer agrees to the terms of theinsurance agreement by acceptance of a receipt-insured-credit-card aspayment for a purchase transaction in the data transfer connectionbetween the retailer and the receipt-insured-credit-card issuer.
 4. Thereceipt insurance credit card payment system of claim 1 wherein theretailer receives consideration from the issuer of thereceipt-insured-credit-card for acceptance of areceipt-insured-credit-card as payment for a purchase transaction by thedata transfer connection between the retailer and thereceipt-insured-credit-card issuer as part of a transaction feeagreement between the retailer and the receipt-insured-credit-cardissuer.
 5. The receipt insurance credit card payment system of claim 4wherein the retailer receives consideration from the issuer of thereceipt-insured-credit-card on a per transaction basis by the datatransfer connection between the retailer and thereceipt-insured-credit-card issuer for acceptance of areceipt-insured-credit-card as payment for a purchase transaction aspart of a transaction fee agreement.
 6. The receipt insurance creditcard payment system of claim 4 wherein the retailer receivesconsideration from the issuer of the receipt-insured-credit-card as apercentage based transaction charge for acceptance of areceipt-insured-credit-card as payment by the data transfer connectionbetween the retailer and the receipt-insured-credit-card issuer for apurchase transaction as part of a transaction fee agreement.
 7. Thereceipt insurance credit card payment system of claim 1 wherein theissuer of the receipt-insured-credit-card receives receipt data from theretailer by the data transfer connection between the retailer and thereceipt-insured-credit-card issuer on purchase transactions for which areceipt-insured-credit-card is accepted as payment by the retailer. 8.The receipt insurance credit card payment system of claim 1 wherein thereceipt insurer receives receipt data from the retailer by the datatransfer connection between the retailer and thereceipt-insured-credit-card issuer on purchase transactions for which areceipt-insured-credit-card is accepted as payment by the retailer. 9.The receipt insurance credit card payment system of claim 1 wherein thecardholder may access receipt data from the receipt-insured-credit-cardissuer on purchase transactions for which a receipt-insured-credit-cardis accepted as payment by the retailer by the data transfer connectionbetween the retailer and the receipt-insured-credit-card issuer.
 10. Thereceipt insurance credit card payment system of claim 1 wherein thecardholder may access receipt data from the receipt insurer on purchasetransactions for which a receipt-insured-credit-card is accepted aspayment by the retailer by the data transfer connection between theretailer and the receipt-insured-credit-card issuer and the receiptinsurer.
 11. The receipt insurance credit card payment system of claim 1wherein the issuer of the receipt-insured-credit-card may access receiptdata from the receipt insurer by a data transfer connection on purchasetransaction for which a receipt-insured-credit-card is accepted aspayment by the retailer.
 12. The receipt insurance credit card paymentsystem of claim 1 wherein the receipt data transferred by the datatransfer connection between the retailer and thereceipt-insured-credit-card issuer includes monetary amounts of purchasetransactions and itemized purchase transaction information.
 13. Thereceipt insurance credit card payment system of claim 1 configured toprovide by a data transfer connection substantially all receipt data onpurchase transactions made with a receipt-insured-credit-card byreference to the receipt-insured-credit-card with which thecorresponding purchase transaction was made.
 14. The receipt insurancecredit card payment system of claim 1 further configured for cardholderaccess by a data transfer connection with thereceipt-insured-credit-card issuer to receipt data on purchasetransactions made with a receipt-insured-credit-card.
 15. The receiptinsurance credit card payment system of claim 1 further configured forcardholder access to receipt data on purchase transactions made with areceipt-insured-credit-card by a data transfer connection with thereceipt insurer.
 16. The receipt insurance credit card payment system ofclaim 1 further configured for retailer access to receipt data onpurchase transactions made with a receipt-insured-credit-card by a datatransfer connection with the receipt-insured-credit-card issuer.
 17. Thereceipt insurance credit card payment system of claim 1 furtherconfigured for retailer access to receipt data on purchase transactionsmade with a receipt-insured-credit-card by a data transfer connectionwith the receipt insurer.
 18. The receipt insurance credit card paymentsystem of claim 1 wherein the receipt-insured-credit-card issuer is acredit card company.
 19. The receipt insurance credit card paymentsystem of claim 1 wherein the receipt-insured-credit-card issuer is abank.
 20. A method of insuring a purchaser in a purchase transaction ofa product or service against losses resulting from the absence of aphysical receipt for the purchase transaction, the method comprising thesteps of: issuing by a communication device areceipt-insured-credit-card to a purchaser under areceipt-insured-credit-card cardholder agreement, thereceipt-insured-credit-card cardholder agreement being associated withinsurance coverage under an insurance policy for the purchaser forlosses resulting from or related to the absence of a physical receipt orproof of purchase for a purchase transaction made with thereceipt-insured-credit-card, providing a receipt insurance systemincluding a data storage device configured to receive and store aplurality of electronic receipt records from one or more retailers;establishing a data transfer connection between the receipt insurancesystem and a point of sale system or enterprise resource planning systemof a retailer for transfer of receipt data for a purchase transactionfrom a point-of-sale system to the receipt insurance system and foraccess by the purchaser by a computer connected to the receipt insurancesystem; creating an electronic record of receipt data received from thepoint of sale system and storing the electronic record of receipt datain the receipt insurance system, and insuring for each purchaser thateach electronic record of receipt data for purchase transactions by thepurchaser that are stored within the receipt insurance system will beavailable to the purchaser; wherein the insurance agreement isincorporated in terms of issuance between thereceipt-insured-credit-card issuer and cardholders ofreceipt-insured-credit-cards, and a receipt-insured-credit-cardcardholder is insured under the insurance agreement against loss ofrights related to a receipt for a purchase transaction made with thereceipt-insured-credit-card upon use of the receipt-insured-credit-cardas payment for a purchase transaction by the communication device. 21.The method of claim 20 further comprising the step of providinginsurance coverage is defined by an insurance agreement which isassociated with the receipt-insured-credit-card cardholder agreement.22. The method of claim 20 further comprising the step of invoking theinsurance coverage by use of the receipt-insured-credit-card for apurchase transaction by the purchaser.
 23. The method of claim 20further comprising the step of the issuer of thereceipt-insured-credit-card receiving consideration from the purchaserfor issuance of the receipt-insured-credit-card to the purchase.
 24. Themethod of claim 20 further comprising the step of the issuer of thereceipt-insured-credit-card compensating a seller of a product orservice for acceptance of the receipt-insured-credit-card in connectionwith a purchase transaction.
 25. The method of claim 20 furthercomprising the step of a seller of a product or service agreeing toterms of the insurance by acceptance of a receipt-insured-credit-card inconnection with a purchase transaction.
 26. The method of claim 20further comprising the step of the seller of a product or servicetransmitting receipt data for a purchase made with areceipt-insured-credit-card to the issuer of thereceipt-insured-credit-card.
 27. The method of claim 20 furthercomprising the step of the seller of a product or service transmittingreceipt data for a purchase made with a receipt-insured-credit-card tothe purchaser.
 28. The method of claim 20 further comprising the step ofthe seller of a product or service transmitting receipt data for apurchase made with a receipt-insured-credit-card to a receipt insurer.29. The method of claim 20 further comprising the step of a receiptinsurer covering any claims against the receipt-insured-credit-cardissuer by a purchaser in connection with any purchases made with areceipt-insured-credit-card.
 30. The method of claim 20 furthercomprising the step of a purchaser submitting claims for lossesresulting from the absence of a physical receipt for a purchasetransaction to a receipt insurer.
 31. The method of claim 20 furthercomprising the step of a purchaser submitting claims for lossesresulting from the absence of a physical receipt for a purchasetransaction to the issuer of the receipt-insured-credit-card.
 32. Themethod of claim 20 further comprising the step of a purchaser accessingreceipt data on purchase transactions made with areceipt-insured-credit-card via the issuer of thereceipt-insured-credit-card by reference to areceipt-insured-credit-card account.
 33. A receipt insurance credit cardpayment system for purchase transactions by use ofreceipt-insured-credit-cards as payment in conjunction with hardware andsoftware for purchase transaction data processing and management wherebyreceipt for purchase transactions by use of a receipt-insured creditcard are insured under an insurance agreement, the receipt insurancecredit card payment system comprising: an insurance agreement between areceipt insurer and a credit card issuer in connection with a creditcard account to provide a receipt-insured-credit-card by which acardholder of a receipt-insured-credit-card issued by areceipt-insured-credit-card issuer is insured under the insuranceagreement against loss of rights related to a receipt for a purchasetransaction made with the receipt-insured-credit-card; a computer serverconnected to a computing device of a cardholder by which an account fora receipt-insured credit card is established; thereceipt-insured-credit-card configured to function as a payment devicein connection with a point-of-sale transaction device for acceptance aspayment by a retailer for a purchase transaction as a charge against areceipt-insured-credit-card account; the point-of-sale transactiondevice connected to a data network and operative to transfer receiptdata for purchase transactions by a receipt-insured-credit-cards fromthe retailer to a computer and data storage device of thereceipt-insured-credit-card issuer or to the receipt insurer or to thecardholder for storage in a receipt database, the receipt-insured creditcard issuer receiving an economic benefit from the cardholder forissuance of receipt-insured-credit-cards for purchase transactions;wherein the insurance agreement is incorporated in terms of issuancebetween the receipt-insured-credit-card issuer and cardholders ofreceipt-insured-credit-cards, and a receipt-insured-credit-cardcardholder is insured under the insurance agreement against loss ofrights related to a receipt for a purchase transaction made with thereceipt-insured-credit-card upon use of the receipt-insured-credit-cardas payment for a purchase transaction by the communication device. 34.The system of claim 33 wherein the insurance coverage is defined by aninsurance agreement which is associated with thereceipt-insured-credit-card cardholder agreement.
 35. The system ofclaim 33 wherein the insurance coverage is invoked by use of thereceipt-insured-credit-card for a purchase transaction by the purchaserwith the point-of-sale transaction device.
 36. The system of claim 33wherein the issuer of the receipt-insured-credit-card receivesconsideration from the cardholder for issuance of thereceipt-insured-credit-card to the cardholder.
 37. The system of claim33 wherein the issuer of the receipt-insured-credit-card compensates aseller of a product or service for acceptance of thereceipt-insured-credit-card for a purchase transaction.
 38. The systemof claim 33 wherein a seller of a product or service agrees to terms ofthe insurance by acceptance of a receipt-insured-credit-card inconnection with a purchase transaction with a point-of-sale transactiondevice.
 39. The system of claim 33 wherein the seller of a product orservice transmits receipt data for a purchase made with areceipt-insured-credit-card to the issuer of thereceipt-insured-credit-card by the data network connected to thepoint-of-sale transaction device.
 40. The system of claim 33 wherein theseller of a product or service transmits receipt data for a purchasemade with a receipt-insured-credit-card to the purchaser by the datanetwork connected to the point-of-sale transaction device.
 41. Thesystem of claim 33 wherein the seller of a product or service transmitsreceipt data for a purchase made with a receipt-insured-credit-card to areceipt insurer by the data network connected to the point-of-saletransaction device.
 42. The system of claim 33 wherein a receipt insurercovers any claims against the receipt-insured-credit-card issuer by apurchaser in connection with any purchases made with areceipt-insured-credit-card.
 43. The system of claim 33 wherein apurchaser submits claims for losses resulting from the absence of aphysical receipt for a purchase transaction to a receipt insurer. 44.The system of claim 33 wherein a purchaser submits claims for lossesresulting from the absence of a physical receipt for a purchasetransaction to the issuer of the receipt-insured-credit-card.
 45. Thesystem of claim 33 wherein a purchaser accesses receipt data on purchasetransaction made with a receipt-insured-credit-card via a data networkconnection to the issuer of the receipt-insured-credit-card by referenceto a receipt-insured-credit-card account.